October 6, 2015 – ISO 9001, which, according BSI Group Canada, is the most widely-adopted quality management systems standard, has undergone another revision.

“Since 2000, the way we do business has changed enormously. We have instant access to information and higher expectations of organizations we work with, whilst having to deal with more complex supply chains and a globally competitive economy. ISO 9001: 2015 has been revised to take this into account”, BSI Group states.

Some of the key changes include:

• Greater emphasis on building a management system suited to each organization’s particular needs,
 • A requirement that those at the top of an organization be involved and accountable, aligning quality with wider business strategy,
• Risk-based thinking throughout the standard makes the whole management system a preventive tool and encourages continuous improvement,
• Less prescriptive requirements for documentation: the organization can now decide what documented information it needs and what format it should be in,
• Alignment with other key management system standards through the use of a common structure and core text.

ISO member countries had until Sept. 9 to vote on the final draft.

A vote on an earlier draft (draft international standard, or DIS) of the revised ISO 9001 was approved in November 2014 by around 90% of members, says ISO, but the committee also received over 3000 comments with suggestions on possible improvements.

Pre-order ISO 9001 at: shop.bsigroup.com/ISO9001.

For a detailed infographic on the revision, click HERE.